New charges could 'derail' murder trial of Brookdale student and boyfriend

Prosecutors allege Raquel Garajau and her boyfriend Joseph Villani were selling cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana up to and after the death of their marijuana supplier Trupal Patel.
THOMAS P. COSTELLO

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Racquel Garajau is shown during a hearing before Judge Thomas Scully in State Superior Court in Freehold, Tuesday, October 17, 2017. She is charged, along with Joseph Villani, with the murder of marijuana dealer Trupal Patel.(Photo: Thomas P. Costello)Buy Photo

FREEHOLD - A Brookdale Community College honors student and her boyfriend have been charged with a total of 11 new offenses on the eve of jury selection for their trial in the murder of a marijuana dealer, in a move a defense attorney characterized as “an attempt to derail this trial."

Some of the new charges include detailed allegations of conspiracies by Brookdale dean’s list student Raquel Garajau and her boyfriend, Joseph Villani, to steal and distribute the dead man’s marijuana.

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Joseph Villani is shown during a hearing before Judge Thomas Scully in State Superior Court in Freehold, Tuesday, October 17, 2017. He is charged, along with Racquel Garajau, with the murder of marijuana dealer Trupal Patel.(Photo: Thomas P. Costello)

Prosecutors had been seeking to introduce evidence of those activities, but Superior Court Judge Thomas F. Scully issued rulings disallowing some of it because the pair wasn’t charged with any drug offenses in the original indictment.

It was unclear whether a superceding indictment containing the new charges, handed up Monday by a Monmouth County grand jury, will delay the start of jury selection for the trial of Garajau and Villani in the Feb. 6 murder of Trupal Patel.

Robert A. Honecker, Garajau’s defense attorney, said he plans to argue Wednesday that the new indictment in the case is invalid, and that the jury selection for the trial should begin as planned.

Edward C. Bertucio, Villani’s defense attorney, said the superceding indictment on the eve of jury selection was “unprecedented’’ and “an attempt to derail this trial.’’

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Raquel Garajau’s attorney Robert Honecker (left) listens to Joseph Villani’s attorney Edward Bertucio during a break in a pretrial hearing before Judge Thomas Scully in State Superior Court in Freehold Wednesday, October 11, 2017. The pair are charged with the murder of Trupal Patel.(Photo: Thomas P. Costello)

Charles Webster, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, said he didn’t know whether the new indictment would delay the start of the trial.

“That remains to be seen tomorrow (Wednesday) morning," Webster said on Tuesday.

Many of the new charges involve conspiracies between Garajau, 20, of Tinton Falls, and Villani, 21, of Ocean Township centering on plans to steal Patel’s marijuana and sell it, as well as to steal his money and his Movado watch.

The new conspiracy charges list numerous specific acts, including the pair’s alleged solicitations to sell marijuana to a number of people leading up to and after the shooting death of Patel, 29, of Brick, who has been identified as a major marijuana dealer in Monmouth County.

Those allegations were not contained in the original indictment but have been the subject of more than a month of pretrial hearings. Melanie Falco and Stephanie Dugan, assistant Monmouth County prosecutors, argued that the defendants’ activities involving marijuana use and sales were relevant to the state’s case to prove their intent to murder Patel so that they could steal his drugs and take over his customer base.

Defense attorneys argued the evidence would unfairly prejudice the pair, especially since neither Garajau nor Villani were charged with any drug offenses.

Scully issued rulings saying that some, but not all of the evidence that that the state was seeking to introduce, was irrelevant, unclear or overly prejudicial and couldn’t be presented to the jury at the upcoming trial.

That could change with the inclusion of the new charges, if the superceding indictment is allowed to stand.

Bertucio said the new indictment was a response by prosecutors who are unhappy with the the judge’s prior rulings.

“We are about to pick a jury, and the state, because they’re obviously upset with the adverse rulings that Judge Scully properly ruled in favor of the defense, is trying to circumvent the court and trying to deprive my client of a speedy and fair resolution of this case," Bertucio said. “I am shocked by the conduct of the prosecutor’s office to do this and not forewarn the court, the jury pool or the defense of this maneuver to derail this trial."

Honecker and Bertucio said the judge has already declared that the trial has officially been underway since the start of the pretrial hearings in September, so any new indictment at this point is invalid.

“The court has made it clear we are in trial on the original indictment, and we are ready to move forward to continue the trial tomorrow (Wednesday)," Honecker said.

Villani was originally charged with Patel’s murder on Feb. 25, after the victim’s body was found in Shark River Park in Wall. Prosecutors allege Patel was shot to death in Villani’s garage, and his body later moved to the park. Garajau was not charged in the case until the original indictment was handed up in May.

The original indictment charged both Villani and Garajau with murder, robbery, felony murder, unlawful possession of an assault firearm, disturbing or desecrating human remains, hindering their own apprehension, tampering with a witness, and three counts of tampering with physical evidence. It also charged Villani with hindering Garajau’s apprehension, and Garajau with hindering Villani’s apprehension.

The new indictment excludes the charge of unlawful possession of an assault firearm, but includes charges against both Villani and Garajau of murder, robbery, felony murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, disturbing human remain, hindering apprehension of oneself, and the three counts of witness tampering, as well as Villani’s hindrance of Garajau’s apprehension and Garajau’s hindrance of Villani’s apprehension.

The new indictment adds an additional charge against both defendants of tampering with physical evidence as well as charges of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit theft of marijuana from Patel, theft of that marijuana, conspiracy to commit theft of the victim’s cash and Movado watch, the theft of that cash and watch, conspiracy to possess a weapon for an unlawful purpose, conspiracy to disturb human remains and conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

The superceding indictment also contains an additional charge of witness tampering against Villani.

Honecker has maintained that Garajau had nothing to do with any of the crimes. Bertucio has said he plans to argue self-defense on behalf of Villani.

Garajau and Villani are both being held in jail without bail, pending the outcome of the case.